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Project Team |
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Bruce Tomblin |
Bruce Tomblin is the CLRC Director and the DC Spriestersbach Distinguished Professor in Liberal Arts & Sciences at the U of Iowa. His research and teaching have long been in children's language development and disorders. In recent years, his research has been concerned with the development and the genetic influence on the occurrence of certain forms of children's language problems. Much of this research has been supported by NIH research grants and contracts. He earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of La Verne, a master's degree in speech from the University of Redlands, and a doctoral degree in communicative disorders from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is a fellow of the American Speech Language and Hearing Association and the Iowa Speech and Hearing Association. He holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech-language pathology from ASHA and is a licensed speech language pathologist in the state of Iowa. |
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Jeff Murray collaborates on the genetics studies of the CLRC, investigating the genetic contribution to language acquisition. He is professor of pediatrics and biological sciences at The University of Iowa. He was director of the Cooperative Human Linkage Center, a Human Genome Center based at the University of Iowa, and director of the Craniofacial Anomalies Research Center in the Departments of Pediatrics, Biological Sciences, Otolaryngology, and Physiology at Iowa. Dr.
Jeff Murray earned a bachelor's degree in biology from M.I.T. and
a medical degree from Tufts Medical School in 1978. Following a pediatric
residency at the Boston Floating Hospital, Dr. Murray did a medical
genetics fellowship at the University of Washington. |
Jeff
Murray |
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Sandie Bass-Ringdahl is an investigator with the CLRC and an assistant professor in the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, The University of Iowa. Her research interests include the early speech development of infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing as well as early identification and aural (re)habilitation of hearing impairment. She earned her bachelor's degree in speech pathology and audiology from The University of Florida and a master's degree in audiology from Louisiana State University. She completed her clinical fellowship in audiology at the Baton Rouge Speech and Hearing Foundation and the V.A. Medical Center in New Orleans. She earned her doctoral degree in speech and hearing science at The University of Iowa in 2002. Before accepting her current academic position, she worked with Iowa's Early Hearing Detection and Intervention Program as well as the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics' Cochlear Implant Team in the Department of Otolaryngology. |
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Bob McMurray is an investigator with the CLRC and an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Iowa. His over-arching research interests include the development of visual and speech categories; temporal integration of perceptual cues; on-line spoken word recognition; and statistical and dynamical models of development and perception. |
Bob McMurray |
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Marlea
O'Brien |
Marlea O'Brien is the program coordinator of the CLRC. She has held this role for over twelve years, and is the key point of contact for the various projects and activities of the CLRC. Marlea's
responsibilities include oversight of field research activities and
staff; management of the financial and grants processes; internal and
external reporting of CLRC activities; and serving as liaison for families,
school personnel, and investigators. In short, she creates the best
possible environment for CLRC work and staff to keep moving forward. |
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Connie Ferguson is a speech-language pathologist and a field examiner for the Child Language Research Center. In addition to testing Des Moines, Iowa, research subjects, she is responsible for refining protocols, maintaining the integrity of the administration of the protocols, and training other field examiners.
She earned a master's degree in speech pathology from Central Missouri
State University. She has worked as a field examiner with Dr. Tomblin
on several of his research studies since 1991. Prior to joining the
CLRC, she served as a speech-language pathologist in the public schools
for several years.
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Connie
Ferguson |
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Marcia St. Clair is a field examiner in the (Iowa-Illinois) Quad Cities area for the Child Language Research Center. Marcia has been working as a field examiner with the Child Language Research Center since 1998.
She earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University
of Northern Iowa. Prior to joining the CLRC team, she worked in the
public school systems in Iowa and Illinois as an elementary education
teacher and reading tutor. |
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Rick Arenas is a doctoral candidate in the department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. His primary interest is in developmental stuttering. In particular, he is interested in the contextual variability of stuttering. He is currently investigating the effects of autonomic arousal on speech production, as well as how contextual fluctuations in the error monitoring system may be related to the moment or instance of stuttering. The goal of this work is to find a biologically plausible explanation for the contextual variability of stuttering that is directly tied to current models of speech production. |
Rick Arenas |
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Wendy Fick |
Wendy Fick began work as a research assistant at the CLRC in 2001. Her duties include entering and verifying data, insuring data accuracy and security, and disseminating data to appropriate investigators. She also conducts event-related potential recordings on subjects in a dedicated setting at the Child Language Research Center. She earned a bachelor's degree from The University of Iowa, and prior to joining the CLRC, worked as a research assistant for the speech physiology lab in Iowa's Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology.
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Linda J. Spencer is an investigator with the CLRC and her interests include examining the speech-language and literacy development of children with cochlear implants. She has worked as a staff speech-language pathologist in hospital and school settings and was a Research Assistant III at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for over 10 years. She earned her bachelor's and PhD degrees in speech and hearing science at The University of Iowa. Her current line of research involves examining the relationship between phonology, language skills and reading abilities in children with normal hearing and in children with hearing loss. |
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Elizabeth Walker |
Elizabeth Walker is a research assistant on the children's cochlear implant team. Her primary research interests are in lexical and vocal development in children who are deaf or hard of hearing, with particular interests in how word learning and infant babbling can be used to track speech and language progress in young children with cochlear implants. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and speech and hearing science from the University of Iowa and a master's degree in communication disorders from the University of Minnesota in 2002. She is certified as a speech-language pathologist and audiologist. She is currently a doctoral candidate in speech and hearing science at the University of Iowa.
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Julie Ostrem divides her time weaving websites for the CLRC, the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology, and the Voice Academy, an NIDCD-funded site for the vocal health of teachers. She joined the CLRC team in 2003 to program and market the SLI Data Sharing project and to give a facelift to the CLRC site. To do these tasks, she draws on her bachelor's degree in journalism from Iowa State University and a master's degree in business administration from The University of Iowa. She never tires of the challenge of communicating knowledge from scientific research into useful forms to those who need it on a day-to-day basis.
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Julie Ostrem |
